Morocco Faces Potential Bank Card Shortage Amid Global Semiconductor Crisis

"Without improvement in the situation, millions of cards will be missing" warns the management of the Smart Payment Association (SPA), a body that represents the largest manufacturers of payment cards, such as Thalès or Idemia. In a press release, the structure points to the urgency of acting to protect these companies from the semiconductor shortage, a supply problem that is affecting the whole world, reports the newspaper Le Matin.

In Morocco as elsewhere, daily life and business are increasingly governed by payment cards. With the progress of banking and the regression of check payments, most consumption payments other than in cash are made using cards in physical stores. Cards are also essential for accessing cash in ATMs. Online commerce is also affected in the first place. The same goes for tourism since the card is now popular with travelers for their payments.

According to the figures of the Interbank Monetics Center, the Moroccan market amounts to 17.9 million bank cards as of the end of June 2021. The number of cards renewed per year is around 3 million.

Securing an uninterrupted supply chain for payment cards is therefore essential for daily life and commerce. As payment cards are issued when a bank account is opened, regularly renewed after their expiration date or urgently replaced when a card is lost or compromised, more than 3 billion EMV-compliant payment cards must be produced and delivered each year to consumers around the world.

Now, with the global chip shortage, another threat has emerged. The widely reported bottlenecks in chip supply have become so critical that payment card manufacturers are facing growing difficulties in obtaining the chips needed to produce cards. This crisis is showing no signs of abating in mid-2021 and will therefore continue into 2022. The SPA foresees significant disruptions in the production of payment cards, which will affect the ability of its members.

The association has taken action with central banks and governments to obtain a higher priority from semiconductor manufacturing companies for the production of the chips needed for payment cards and to ensure their adequate supply.